, it is true; but I am afraid the
term reflection, as here applied, is used in a very abstract sense. If
it is meant the culprit should reflect on his having done wrong, I
answer this he always does, under any punishment, however slight: he
cannot but be aware of the cause which places him under coercion, and
regret it. This kind of reflection only makes him more sorry for
having been detected in his crime, than for having committed it. To
reflect with advantage in solitude, there must be some materials
stored in the mind; or books must be read to furnish these materials:
if these be supplied, however unwilling a being may be to reflect, no
mind will be long able to resist the temptation of mental employment,
if in continual solitude. But if a mind, totally void of sources of
reflection, be shut up in a cell for years, or even for months, what
can be expected but that every day will stultify its powers, and at
last render it callous and unimpressable; or in the end imbecile, and
so weak as to be irresponsible for its own acts! The Americans do, it
seems, in their solitary penitentiaries, teach those to read who
cannot under twenty-five years of age; and then they leave them.

* * * * *

RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS.

* * * * *

THE STATIONERS' COMPANY.

It appears, from the most authentic records, that the company of
stationers, or text-writers, who wrote and sold all sorts of books,
formerly in use--namely, the A.B.C., with the Paternoster, Ave, Creed,
Grace, &c. to large portions of the Bible, and even to the whole Bible
itself, dwelt in and about Paternoster Row. Hence we have in that
neighbourhood, Creed Lane, Amen Corner, Ave Maria Lane, &c., all which
places are named after some scriptural allusion. Here dwelt also
turners of beads, who were called Paternoster-makers, as we read in a
record of one Robert Nikke, "Paternoster-maker and Citizen," in the
reign of Henry IV. The company of stationers is of great antiquity. By
the authority of the lord mayor and court of aldermen, they formed
into a guild, or fraternity, in the year 1403, and had their
ordinances made for the good government of their fellowship. Thus
constituted, they regularly assembled, under the government of a
master and two wardens. Their first hall was in Milk-street.

H.B.A.

* * * * *

TITLES.

"Princes have but their _titles_ for the